Night and Dawn
by wolfgazer325
Summary: PG because it's a bit intense. Young Jack despairs over the untimely death of his parents finding himself standing at their graves on a stormy night. Life altering decisions are made that change him from the boy he is to the man he will be. One Shot.


A/N: Hello there everyone! To all new comers, hope you enjoy this little one-shot. To all those who are familiar with my work, hope that you have come back! I know I don't normally do one-shots, but since I did this for the group site I'm on and everyone liked it there, I figured I'd post it here as well. For those of you who are interested in knowing, I am working on a new fic that will have multiple chappys! I just have to get the first draft down, beated, and we'll give it a shot! Thank God for winter breaks right????? Oh, and I was also thinking of maybe turning this into a longer fic as well, any suggestions on that? Yes, no? Thanks again ahead of time for everyone who reads this!

Disclaimer: Don't own the very disturbed young man in this little thing, but writing it made me wish I could reach out and make him feel better!

Night and Dawn

The rain pelted down hard on him as he stood at the muddy site starring down at the newly created graves. The large oak did little to stop the torrent of water that soaked him, but he didn't care. The freezing water hitting him was the only thing that kept him from feeling completely numb.

He'd only been gone a month. A month out searching for work to help with the financial burden and he'd made a small amount. He was going to present it to his father that very day, but it wouldn't do him nor his mother any good now, he thought with bitterness. He tightened his fist around the stems of the flowers he had picked on his way there. He doubted the church would miss them.

It hadn't sunk in yet, his parents gone…they couldn't be…they were still at home waiting for his return. His father was home copying maps and his mother would be sitting by the fire stitching up some of his overly worn clothes. The lightening split the sky and illuminated the markers below him, mocking his momentary fantasy as he saw clearly the names of his parents on the stone. The streak in the sky also managed to spark the fuse that had been waiting to burn inside him and he howled along with the rolling thunder. He threw his arms out in surrender and lifted his face to the sky in a screaming rage, awaiting his turn to be taken. His answer was only another flash of light and even louder blast than the one before.

His scream died with the thunder and he fell down to his hands and knees, all of which became immersed in mud. He'd worked so hard and exhaustion finally caught up with him along with grief, confusion, but above all, anger. White hot anger that boiled inside him, demanding that the questions he held be answered. Why had it happened to them? Why did he deserve to lose the only people he had? Why had all those years been wasted just to die without pride or anything to show for it? What was the purpose of being an honest person if all it got you was a long, hard life filled with pain, uncertainty, and a grave of dirt at the end?

"WHY!" He bellowed into the stormy night. His answer again was lightening and thunder simultaneously. His hair was falling loose of its leather strip hanging all around and plastering itself to his face. _Why_ conform to the world around you when it cared nothing for you? _Why_ be what society demanded when it still looked down at you with disdain and regretful tolerance? How did you profit by that? _Why_ suffer so someone else could live a content life?

He shook his head slowly. _No more…_He reached up to his head and pulled the leather strip free and flung it into the night allowing his hair to hang free blowing in the whistling wind. He would not be controlled anymore by their standards; he would live by his own. He would have freedom or die trying to get it. He would not live by other's rules but his own and his would be simple. _What a man can do and what a man can't do._

The young man stood back up caring not of his appearance or what anyone would perceive of him when they saw him now. Mud, rain, and tears dripped from him, but he didn't move to stop any of it. No one else had cried for them, so he would allow these, they deserved that much. Illness may have placed his parents in their graves, but they'd already lost their lives to the world they had chosen to live in. He would not follow in their footsteps, he would become more, and that was the promise he made to them.

He starred down again at the graves, at the muddied flowers, and took in a deep breath. He would not run from the storm that surrounded him, nor the one inside of him. He would walk through it and face what ever the world would throw at him, but he would do it on his own terms and at this he could smile. _Like the Sparrow_…he would stay true to his name, for now he knew he'd been aptly given it.

He reached down and touched the cold stone briefly before turning and striding away. He knew now what he wanted to do, what he _needed _to do. He would no longer strive to just make it by, he had a purpose. It would take time, it would take effort, it could cost him everything he had and more, but it didn't matter.

Much had died that night, but a new dawn was on the way. He had a life he needed to start living…a freedom to gain…and a horizon to catch, and nothing and no one would stop him.


End file.
